It doesn't always end in tears for Spain

European champions
It was 1964, the year too that Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and Nelson Mandela imprisoned on Robben Island. For Spanish football fans it was also a year to remember for on 21 June 1964, their national team became European champions for the first and so far only time. Forty-four years ago on this day, the Santiago Bernabéu stadium erupted as efforts from Jesús María Pereda and Marcelino Martínez flew past the legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin to secure the Henri Delaunay trophy for hosts Spain in a 2-1 final triumph over the USSR.

Near-misses
It remains the only silverware ever won by Spain's senior footballers, who had reached the final after a 2-1 extra-time victory over Hungary in the semi-finals, also staged in Madrid. The intervening four decades have brought several near-misses, notably a runners-up spot at the 1984 UEFA European Championship, but nothing to match the achievement of the summer of '64. Unlike today, when Luis Aragonés's quarter-finalists include five English-based players, then José Villalonga's team featured just one export in Luis Suárez, already a European champion that year with his club FC Internazionale Milano.

Suárez remembers
Recalling their success, Suárez said it was a triumph of teamwork. "We were a good team but possibly not one of the best Spain has had," he told euro2008.com. "But we played well as a team. We were very compact and the players understood and complemented each other very well, partly because they came from only a few clubs. Then there was one player with a lot of international experience – me! I was the oldest player and I was already playing abroad. And I think that this plus the help we got – because we had a lot of help from the fans – was enough for us to win the European Championship."

Fatalism
Suárez, who later coached his country at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, says better Spanish teams have failed since. Such disappointments have produced a degree of fatalism among their followers, captured by this year's official song for La Selección written by Spanish group Pignoise, which is titled 'Pasar de cuartos' – or 'Get past the quarter-finals', a familiar terminus for Spain's journeys on both the world and continental stage. That is where Spain, such impressive performers in the first round, stand now as they await their UEFA EURO 2008™ moment of destiny against Italy in Vienna on Sunday. If they can come through a hard day's night against the Azzurri, it will be tempting to believe it really could be their year again.